pinja:
Okay, lets clear up this up because it’s getting old:
Inuit is not a value neutral term for native arctic peoples
The term eskimo was one given by European colonizers of the Americas to natives in the arctic to differentiate them from other native Americans (Don’t ask me why). In recent times the term Inuit has widely replaced it as somehow the more accurate, less offensive term. The only problem is, it isn’t. Inuit are merely the most populous native arctic group and then only in north America (You know, excluding all the asian arctic peoples). And then only relatively recently because they supplanted and replaced other native arctic cultures. There are at least two other non-inuit peoples in Canada (According to wiki anyway, I am no expert).
I’m trying to think of an equally offensive label as calling all arctic peoples Inuits. It’s like calling Koreans and Vietnamese people Chinese or calling people from Iran and Pakistan Arabs.
So first off, don’t call all native peoples in the arctic Inuits. They maybe Metis, or hell, they may even regard themselves as Canadians.
This however is even more dumb when Watertribers are called Inuits. It’s not an ethnicity but a culture. Avatar takes place in a totally different world so saying Korra is an Inuit is like saying Zuko is American.
So yeah, stop doing that.
Also note that the water tribes have lots of metal items (Inuits have very few because the only metal availible is small amounts from meteors and even then they couldn’t forge it) and large wooden sailing boats (Inuits only had small boats made from skin and no sails). Perhaps the correspondance between real world cultures and the ones of Avatar aren’t quite as clear as some people would like to make out.
(Disclaimer: I am no expert, if you can prove me wrong I’ll gladly offer a retraction).
This is…a bizarre rant, and I’m thankful for the disclaimer and offer to retract this.
What I’m going to say has nothing to do with the fandom in discussion, because the only thing I know about it is how much people on tumblr apparently love it.
So. What you think you know about the labels indigenous peoples have for ourselves is completely wrong.
There are three recognised indigenous groups in Canada (as an example, since we have a large Inuit, yes Inuit population in this country). They are: First Nations, Inuit and Metis.
Inuit is absolutely the correct term for those living in the Arctic. It is actually their name for themselves here. There are some few groups who live nearly as far north, such as the Gwich’in (Dene, First Nations), but in general, the Arctic is Inuit territory. First Nations and Metis peoples are further down south.
Based purely off the pictures I have seen of Korra et al, it is strikingly obvious that the way they dress is based on Inuit garb. Loosely, mind you, but it’s very distinct.
Some more info:
Inuit is the plural, Inuk is the singular.
It is not correct to say that using the term Inuit is akin to lumping together Koreans and Vietnamese as Chinese. There are various Inuit dialects, but they are mutually intelligible.
I have nothing to say about the cartoon beyond this, and my focus was on the misleading information about the term Inuit.
